OVERVIEW
Many people come to this course with questions about their career and
their life: What does it feel like to be a teacher? Is teaching for
me? What do I really want to do with the rest of my life? I think I
want to be a teacher but I am not sure if I have what it takes? The
purpose of this course is to present opportunities for each student to
confront the questions that are important for them and to help them to
move toward a better understanding of whether teaching is what they
want to do.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES AND TOPICS
January
Mon 8th Introduction and orientation
Wed 10th Community building
Mon 15th Martin Luther King Day – NO CLASS
Wed 17th Community Building
JOURNAL ENTRY 1 (on READINGS #1)
Mon 22nd Field experience preparation / The Universal Teacher
Wed 24th The Universal Teacher (continued) / The road to
hell….:"Mini-me's" guide to becoming an ineffective teacher
CRITICAL REFLECTION PAPER #1 DUE
Mon 29th An overview of teaching/
What kind of jobs are there in teaching? / Trends in teaching
Wed 31st Educational Attitudes: Empathy
JOURNAL ENTRY 2 (on READINGS #2)
February
Mon 5th Educational Attitudes: Respect
CRITICAL REFLECTION PAPER #2 DUE
Wed 7th Educational Attitudes: Genuineness
Mon 12th Communication skills: Listening and attending
CRITICAL REFLECTION PAPER #3 DUE
Wed 14th The not so simple art of grading
Final preparation for field experience
JOURNAL ENTRY 3 (on READINGS #3)
Mon 19th Diversity in the classroom
Wed 21st Diversity in the classroom
Mon 26th Help! I can't control the class! – Methods of effective
classroom management (Part 1)
JOURNAL ENTRY 4 (on either diversity or classroom management)
Wed 28th Help! I can't control the class! – Methods of effective
classroom management (Part 2)
CRITICAL REFLECTION PAPER #4 DUE
March
Mon 5th A very brief introduction to developmental psychology
Wed 7th A very brief introduction…(continued)
TERM PAPER OUTLINE DUE
Mon 12th SPRING BREAK
Wed 14th SPRING BREAK
Mon 19th Video
JOURNAL ENTRY 5 (on READINGS #4)
Wed 21st Video
Mon 26th To be announced (Guest speaker)
Wed 28th Strong Interest Inventory interpretation
TERM PAPER DUE
April
Mon 2nd Myers-Briggs Inventory interpretation
Wed 4th Moral dilemmas and professional issues
Mon 9th Interpretation of Myers-Briggs
JOURNAL ENTRY 6 (on Myers-Briggs and Strong Interest)
Wed 11th Fitting in with the staff
Mon 16th Group dynamics
PORTFOLIO DUE
Wed 18th Managing your stress
Mon 23rd Final reflections and course evaluation
Wed 25th Final reflections and closure
No final exam
CAVEAT
This syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the
instructor.
In particular, there is a strong likelihood that several days may be
switched to ensure that guest lecturers and/or panels can have their
schedules accommodated. This semester in particular, expect the
syllabus to change frequently. Your flexibility is appreciated.
EXPECTATIONS OF WRITTEN WORK
All papers should be double-spaced and in twelve fontPresented on
white paper
Use black font only
Use regular (8 ½ x 11 inch) paper
Paragraphs and margins must be standard (1 inch or 1 ¼ inch)
Use of spell check means that there should be no spelling mistakes!
Also, have someone read through it and check for any mistakes that
"slip through the net" – e.g., "form" instead of "from", that do not
show up on the spell check.
Use words correctly. If you are not sure that the word you are using
is correct, check with your dictionary
Do not use contractions such as don't, can't, wouldn't etc. Use do
not, cannot, would not etc.
Avoid slang, conversational speech and colloquialisms. Examples of
this are, "It was real good to find this out" (colloquial), "She was
so cool" (slang) and "I kinda liked that" (conversational). For more
information on this topic, please refer to the writing center at IU at
this web address: http://www.indiana.edu/%7Ewts/wts/
Papers not meeting the above criteria will be heavily penalized. For
example, several spelling mistakes on a two-page paper may result in a
drop of two whole letter grades or more.
Do not cut and paste from your previous papers to construct your final
paper.
CRITICAL REFLECTION PAPERS
Length: More than one page, less than two (not including a title
page). Papers that are not more than one page long will be heavily
penalized.
These papers are ways to help organize your thinking over the course
of this semester. They are all designed to help you reflect on the
purpose of this class – to help you explore whether teaching is for
you. Since this class is intended to help your self-awareness through
a series of reflective processes, there is not a heavy emphasis on
academic rigor in your papers. That is to say, APA format will not be
expected and no references are necessary unless you choose to do so.
However, spelling, grammar and other aforementioned mistakes will be
very heavily penalized. These papers must demonstrate a significant
amount of time and attention has been applied to considering the
topic. A great deal can be said in two pages, and it is expected that
you put a great deal of thought, effort and energy into each paper.
There are four papers:
Why I am interested in teaching
What are my strengths and weaknesses as a person
What were the characteristics of my favorite teacher? What were the
characteristics of my least favorite teacher?
To be announced
You will be graded on depth of content, flow of the paper, number and
quality of ideas and style. Spelling, grammar and other mistakes will
result in heavy point deductions in proportion to the length of the
paper. For example, eight or more spelling and grammar errors on a two
page paper may result in a drop from an A to a D grade or worse.
READINGS
Readings 1: Read 3 chapters from the book that interest you
Readings 2: Read another 3 chapters that interest you
Readings 3: Reading number 1 from the reserve list on homosexual
students.
Readings 4: Reading number 3 on Joe Clark
TERM PAPER
Length: 10 pages
First draft required.
This paper should be an essay describing what you have learned about
teaching and about yourself as a teacher. It should include your
decision at this time and an exploration of the factors that led you
to this. The title is up to you.
Include:
Where you are in the process of decision-making (yes, no, still
unsure)
How/if your thinking has changed over the course of the semester
What factors have influenced this change and how (field experience, a
class discussion or paper) – be specific. If your thoughts have just
been reinforced, then what has reinforced them?
What are the key factors in your thinking to date about this subject.
Has this changed? (For example, you were focused on long holidays and
are now worried about money or classroom management)
PORTFOLIO
Length: As much as is necessary to do the portfolio justice and to
represent yourself well.
The purpose of the portfolio is to create an anthology of all your
experiences. This type of document is being used increasingly in the
education field for the purpose of interviews, and so practice at this
is a significant part of professional preparation. Graduates of
teacher education programs at Indiana University have extensive
portfolios that represent their undergraduate work.
It also serves the purpose of focusing all the learning from the
semester into one document and therefore allows for each student to
synthesize their learning and bring the salient issues related to
their exploration into perspective.
Above all, it should be presented in a professional manner. This
means that it should all be printed out on a computer and attention
should be paid to the folder, the documents inside, and the
organization of the material. Considerable grade weighting will be
given to presentation style.
The portfolio must include:
Clean (unmarked) copies of ALL your papers and journal entries (term
paper, all four critical reflection papers and all journal entries)
It should be presented in a professional folder or file binder with
An appropriate title page
An index.
A written piece (between two and three pages) outlining how your field
experience has helped your decision-making process with regards to
teaching. This will also be given considerable grade weighting.
The major weight of the grading will be given to completeness,
presentation and the report on the field experience. Other included
papers will be noted, but their prior grade not included.
FIELD EXPERIENCE
You will each work in a school under the supervision of a classroom
teacher. The field experience will be a major part of the class. You
must work ten hours in the classroom as a requirement of F200. A
portion of class time will be allocated to sharing and receiving
feedback on your experiences in the field. Tysus Jackson and I will
coordinate this and will describe the experience in more detail as the
semester progresses. Please note: This field experience is not meant
to take place in F200 class time. It is to be fitted in outside of
class time. Typically, most students fulfill this requirement in
two-hour blocks over five weeks. Transport arrangements are dealt
with by Tysus Jackson and involves car-pooling for those working in
the same schools. This is a required part of the class. Twelve hours
are required.
Aisha Goens' office is located in Education 1000, on the first floor
of the Ed building. She can be reached by email on:
agoens@indiana.edu
EVALUATION
There will be several components to your overall class grade:
Class participation 20%
Critical reflection papers: 20%
Term paper: 30%
Portfolio: 20%
Journals: 10%
To help you with the process of completing these assignments, drafts
of some documents will be expected prior to the hand-in date of the
final document.
CLASS ATTENDANCE POLICYAdditionally, regular class attendance is
expected. More than two unexcused absences in a semester will result
in the course grade being lessened by a half letter grade. Four
absences will result in the course grade being lessened by another
half letter grade. Every other absence after this will result in a
full letter grade being deducted. Therefore, for five unexcused
absences, with a starting grade of an "A", the grade will drop to an
A- at three, to a B+ at four, and to a C+ at five.
An excused absence for health reasons must be accompanied by a
doctor's note. Personal loss or bereavement is also grounds for an
excused absence in consultation with the instructor.
If a student shows up late to class and misses roll, then it is the
student's responsibility to approach the instructor at the end of the
class and ensure that they have not been marked absent. Failure to do
this at the time will not be rectified later.
STRONG INTEREST / MYERS-BRIGGS ASSESSMENT TOOL
There will be a small charge assigned to this of $6 for each test
(totaling $12) that goes toward meeting the Career Development
Center's costs. These are tools used to help you make a decision
about your career choice and what profession you may be best suited
for.
More information will be provided during class time and instructions
given on how to take the test and when. This is a required part of
the class. Failure to complete this section will result in an
incomplete grade or the setting of extensive make-up work at the
instructor's discretion.
IMPORTANT NOTES
Students with disabilities: Students with physical, visual, learning
or other disabilities, which may require modification of curriculum,
instruction or assessment, should contact the instructor. I wish to
fully include people with disabilities in this course. Modifications
will be made after the student has presented documentation indicating
qualification for services from DSS (Disabled Student Services). See
the "Handbook for Students with Disabilities" for eligibility
requirements.
Academic misconduct: Cheating, plagiarism or, sexual harassment or,
racial/ethnic discrimination or and slurs or any other form of student
misconduct that adversely affects the learning or safety of other
students will not be tolerated. If any student becomes aware of any
of these activities then or feels they have been the victim of the
sexual harassment, racial/ethnic discrimination or any other act of
malicious intent, please contact me or Pam Freeman of the Student
Ethics Division, IU's Racial Incidents Team or the Gay, Lesbian and
Bisexual Anti-Harassment Team. For more information about this, refer
to http://campuslife.indiana.edu/Code/index1.html